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A Review of the Lumix GH4 Mirrorless Camera

Panasonic has long been known for impressive mirrorless cameras that they have released to the market over the years. And recently, they have released yet another impressive mirrorless camera model with the Panasonic Lumix GH4. How impressive is this camera, you may ask? Read on for my thoughts on this product.

Features and Design

The Panasonic Lumix GH4 boasts an all new 16MP APS-C CMOS sensor, a chip developed specifically for this camera. And this new sensor is designed so as to facilitate faster response and read-out times than the previous model which is the GH3. The sensor also provides an extensive native ISO range of 200-25,600.

While the GH4 remains an impressive still image shooter, the camera shines most as a video shooter, delivering video in clear, ultra high definition 4K format, the first mirrorless camera to offer this feature.

And if you’re afraid the camera may not be able to handle the amount of data rendered in 4K video format, no need to worry. The GH4 has a new Venus Engine image processor as well as a quad-core CPU specifically aimed at making video capture as smooth as possible.

The processor also delivers some impressive burst mode figures with the GH4 managing 7.5 frames per second with continuous AF enabled, increasing to around 12 frames per second in AF-S mode.

Another area of the camera’s performance which has been improved is auto focusing. The model sports an AF system complete with 49 precision contrast-detect AF points as well as Panasonic’s own ‘Depth from Defocus’ technology, with the whole system delivering AF speeds of as little as 0.07 seconds.

The camera sports at the rear a clear and bright 3-inch 1,043k-dot vari-angle touchscreen OLED monitor. It also has a new OLED viewfinder complete with 100% field of view and a resolution of some 2.36-million dots.

While the GH4 is technically a mirrorless camera, it looks more like mid-range DSLR in the hand both in terms of design and build quality, not to mention the controls and settings available in the unit.

The camera has a solid build as well, with a magnesium alloy shell that is resistant to both water and dust.

Performance

One of the more impressive areas of the GH4 (outside of the 4K video capture) is the GH4’s autofocus features, allowing you to shoot photos faster that wedding photographer derby would find useful.

The level of performance from the camera’s EVF is also impressive. Thanks to the speedy refresh rate, real-time display of shooting setting adjustments as well as various shooting information, you could argue that the experience is preferred to a great deal of optical viewfinders.

As far as the output is concerned, the GH4 delivers some great quality images, though the colors tend to be a little flat at times.

Recommendations

If you are looking for a great mirrorless camera to shoot videos, then the GH4 would be a camera we highly recommend, thanks in part to its 4K shooting capabilities and its fast processor. This does not mean its still image capture performance is not impressive. In fact, this camera is one of the finest still image shooters out there, though other models may perform better especially in rendering color.

Overall, the GH4 is yet another great camera Panasonic has made, a must buy for those who are interested in both photography and videography with its rich features and capabilities it offers.

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